Fat is a common enemy for any individual who plans to lose weight. In truth, there is a slight misconception with regard to the role of fat in our own bodies. Rather than being the overall bad guy for any dieter out there, our body also needs fat for it to function properly.
Before you start your fat loss program, you first need to realize that your body requires a specific amount of fat for it to maintain its normal body functions. There are good and bad cholesterol in our body, and we need to maintain the good ones to benefit our health, and get rid of the bad ones to stay healthy.
Good And Bad Cholesterol – The Basics
Doing away with deep medical terminologies, let’s define good and bad cholesterol in a simple way. Good cholesterol or HDL (high-density lipoproteins) carries cholesterol and fatty acids from various tissues in our body to the liver to be broken down. In most cases, HDL can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases from ever occurring in our lifetime.
Bad cholesterol or LDL (low-density lipoproteins) transports cholesterol and other substances from the liver to body tissues. The more LDL you have in your body, the more cholesterol is distributed to certain areas of the body that do not require large amounts of cholesterol, like the heart. In most cases, too high LDL cholesterol content in our blood can cause cardiovascular diseases that are commonly observed in overweight people.
Coming Up With A Fat Loss Program
Now that you have an idea on the various cholesterols found in our bodies, as well as its own effects to it, we can now come up with a fat loss program that will help us achieve a healthier and leaner body. For starters, we need to know the different kinds of fat that is commonly found in the food we eat, so that we can come up with a fat loss program that contains good cholesterol for a total healthy body benefit.
1. Monounsaturated Fats
This type of fat is known to lower LDL cholesterol and raising the levels of HDL cholesterol in our bodies, thus reducing the amount of bad cholesterol, thus, reducing the risk of heart diseases and stroke. This is a healthier alternative than making use of Trans fats in your meal everyday. Example of food groups that hold monounsaturated fats in abundance includes vegetable oil – olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, and sunflower oil; avocados, peanut butter, and various nuts and seeds.
2. Polyunsaturated Fats
Its now known that polyunsaturated fats lower both LDL and HDL cholesterol in our bodies. In many ways, including this type of fat into our meals can be a benefit and risk to at the same time. When purchasing products to be included in our meal preparations, it is very important that we read the labels to check if it has polyunsaturated fat in it, to safely determine if the amount is enough to be beneficial to our fat loss program. Polyunsaturated fats are found in soybean oil, safflower oil, and corn oil; and in fatty fishes like mackerel, trout, and salmon.
3. Saturated Fat
Saturated fats are known to have Omega-3 fatty acids that are good for our body. This fat group can also help in the functions of some of our body organs. But taking in too much of saturated fats is known to create health problems, such as coronary heart disease and stroke.
When designing your own fat loss programs, you need to keep in mind that you don’t have to avoid any fatty, high-cholesterol foods in your everyday meal. In fact, a proper fat loss program will include the various the food groups that provide the right fatty acids needed by our body to function properly, as well as lessening those that can cause problems when taken in abundance.
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